South African Greek Cheese Pie Recipes

Steps:

• Oven: 400 deg F, or 375 deg F for fan ovens. (200 deg C, 180 deg C fan ovens).
• I used a 7" x 7" x 1 1/2" glass oven dish, which is small but just the right size. Oil dish very lightly.
• Open the phyllo pastry, lightly butter or the top sheet, and line the dish. Don't cut off the overhang. Carry on like this, lightly pressing the next 2 sheets on to the previous ones. Leave the overhang as is.
• Mix the cheeses, nuts, chopped peppers and spring onions in a bowl. Toss until well mixed but work lightly. Add the breadcrumbs and toss through.
• Beat the eggs in a bowl until foamy, and add the Tabasco to the eggs if you are using it. Add to the cheeses, and mix through.
• You will need very little milk -- this depends on your cheeses and eggs -- so as to "wet" the mixture but not saturate it.There should only be the tiniest bit of liquid on the bottom of the bowl if you lift the mixture.
• Scrape into the phyllo-lined dish, and smooth top. Fold the phyllo overhang over the cheese, and oil the bits lightly. The overhang should be adequate to cover the pie. If it does not, it doesn't matter. (S A phyllo sheets are quite large, so it all depends on that!)
• Bake in the pre-heated oven for 40 - 45 minutes, turning DOWN heat to 350 deg F/180 deg C after about 10 minutes, or less for convection/fan ovens. Watch that the top does not burn.
• This is a rich dish, and can be a main vegetarian dish, with a nice salad. If you use a flatter dish, it can be cut into small squares as a snack.

Steps:

• Put the spinach into a large pan. Pour over a couple tbsp water, then cook until just wilted. Tip into a sieve, leave to cool a little, then squeeze out any excess water and roughly chop. Roughly chop the tomatoes and put into a bowl along with the spinach, feta and eggs. Mix well.
• Carefully unroll the filo pastry. Cover with some damp sheets of kitchen paper to stop it drying out. Take a sheet of pastry and brush liberally with some of the sundried tomato oil. Drape oil-side down in a 22cm loosebottomed cake tin so that some of the pastry hangs over the side. Brush oil on another piece of pastry and place in the tin, just a little further round. Keep placing the pastry pieces in the tin until you have roughly three layers, then spoon over the filling. Pull the sides into the middle, scrunch up and make sure the filling is covered. Brush with a little more oil.
• Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Cook the pie for 30 mins until the pastry is crisp and golden brown. Remove from the cake tin, slice into wedges and serve with salad.

Steps:

• Melt butter in small saucepan over low heat; blend in flour until smooth. Gradually add milk, stirring constantly with wire whisk or wooden spoon. Add salt and nutmeg, stirring occasionally, simmer for 5 minutes, or until white sauce is thick. Cool.
• Mash feta cheese with a fork and combine with the grated cheese, well beaten eggs, parsley and white sauce.
• Butter a 9X13 inch baking pan.
• Line with half the pastry sheets, brushing each sheet with butter, and letting them come up the sides of the pan.
• Pour in the cheese filling and cover with the remaining pastry sheets, brushing each sheet with butter.
• Brush top with remaining butter and, with a sharp knife, score the top sheets into strips about 3 inches wide from one end of the pan to the other. Bake in a moderate oven until golden, about 45 minutes.
• Cut into squares and serve hot.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease two 9-inch round cake pans.
• Mix feta cheese and eggs together in a bowl for the filling; set aside.
• Lay out 1 sheet of phyllo on a work surface and brush liberally with olive oil. Top with another sheet and brush with oil. Repeat for a total of 4 sheets, but do not brush the top of the fourth sheet. Transfer the stack of oiled sheets to one of the greased cake pans. Drape over the bottom of the pan, trying not to be too perfect about it; you want some folds and wrinkles in the phyllo.
• Spread 1/2 of the filling over the phyllo in an even layer. Fold the overhanging phyllo over the filling, again letting natural folds and wrinkles occur. Loosely lay 1 sheet of phyllo over the top, brush with oil, and use the oiled brush to pat down the sides all around the circumference of the cake pan.
• Repeat with remaining phyllo, oil, and filling to assemble the second pie.
• Bake the cheese pies in the preheated oven until the tops are a deep golden brown, 45 to 60 minutes. Let cool for 20 minutes before slicing. Serve warm or at room temperature.